To communicate over a communication network, a wireless device typically establishes communication with a base station and then initiates one or more communication sessions governed by a controller network element. However, when a large-scale communications network is impaired or disabled, for example, by a natural disaster, wide area network outage, or simply lack of coverage by any base station within range of the wireless device, the wireless device may be unable to establish communication with a base station or with the controller network element to initiate a communication session.
Overview
In systems and methods of providing wireless network communication, it is determined at a first wireless device that a communication link with an access node is not detected, and a communication link is then established between the first wireless device and a communication network using a network communication protocol. An indication that the first wireless device can provide wireless communications to a second wireless device using a cellular radio access technology is then transmitted from the first wireless device. In response to a communication channel request from the second wireless device, the first wireless device grants a communication channel to the second wireless device, and the second wireless device is assigned a network address. A request is received at the first wireless device to establish a communication session for the second wireless device over the communication network, and the communication session is established by the wireless device for the second wireless device over the communication network.